The Awakening
by Lyless and Lockesilver
Summary: The story of the schiff told through Moses' eyes, Kerbit and beyond. Only set relationship is MosesxKarman because there just isn't enough of it. Rated for later chaps.
1. The Awakening

A/N: There are not enough schiff fan fictions and certainly not enough MosesxKarman stories, which will be a subtle note throughout the story, so if you don't like boyxboy relationships turn back now, I won't accept flames.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except unrecognizable characters (so like in the first few chapters, everyone but the original 10 schiff and the head professor dude)

Warnings: spoilers later on though probably by the time I'm done with this the entire anime will probably have been shown.

Note: any and all dialogue, name spelling and such, are from the subtitled original version.

**A story of mistakes: chapter 1**

_The awakening_

Restraints.

That was the first thing I can remember. Restraints on my wrists and ankles, needles stuck in my skin, and people. They'd walk around me talking to each other as if I wasn't there, checking readings and recording information.

My first instinct was to run, run from this unfamiliar place. Then they started pulling the needles out and unhooking me from the machines. The thought that maybe they'd remove the restraints and then I'd be able to make an escape crossed my mind, but they got rid of everything but those. Then a man in a lab coat came in and all but the armed guards and two assistants left. This man circled me, looking at me as a cat might look at a mouse.

With that one look I knew I hated this man. Not only was he ugly, with his fat figure, beady eyes and thinning hair, but he also had this aura about him that glowed with false kindness and bad intentions. The man signaled to his assistants who hesitantly stepped forward and slowly undid the straps holding my wrists and ankles.

Slowly I sat up, apprehensive, and looked around. The only light came from the bulbs in the ceiling, there wasn't a window in sight. I heard a chuckle beside me and turned to face the man in the lab coat.

"Curious?"

His voice was deep and unpleasant to hear, like two stones ground against each other. His expression had changed into one that a man might give his pet after he just brought it home.

"I'm not surprised you just woke up, Moses."

Moses? Was that my name, was that who I was? I started as I suddenly realized that I didn't know anything about myself other then the basics, I was male, young, and short. It was just something that was there in my mind, like a fact. There were a lot of seemingly random facts in my head like what certain objects in the room where how to talk and form sentences and what stuff was and why it was, except humans. They were like the one thing missing other then facts about myself. Was I human? The man decided to creep me out some more by breaking my ponderings again.

"Yes Moses is your name. You are a schiff. Don't ask what a schiff is, for that is not important. All you need to know is that there are 13 others just like you. You will live together, learn together, and fight together."

Fight?

"Here why don't you take a look at yourself, this will be the last mirror you see for awhile."

He held up a plain mirror, and staring back at me was a stranger. I was decently built with long lean limbs. I had bright emerald eyes that were even more defined by the black hair hanging over my right eye. I was wearing a black collar, probably some type of restraint, and a long grey shirt with two sets of sleeves accompanied by black pants.

I looked at the man who seemed to think me some kind of pet.

"Who are you?"

My voice seemed lighter then I expected but then what did I think it was going to be?

The man's smile quivered like he wasn't expecting me to ask questions.

"You don't need to know that, all you will need to learn will be taught to you. Now I think it's about time you headed to your room."

"Why can't I remember anything? Where am I? What do you mean fight? Who are these 'others'? What-"

"DO NOT ASK QUESTIONS!!" The man was red in the face and it was obvious he was using all his self control to stop himself from hitting me.

It didn't matter; I wasn't scared of this man who thought he owned me. I wasn't somebody's pet and I wasn't about to let him think he had me on a leash.

"Why won't you answer my questions?!"

I think he ran out of self control. I felt a pang on my cheek as his hand came across it.

"I will NOT tolerate insubordination!"

The guards came over and each grabbed my shoulders, and they led my out of the room and into the grey hallway.

Despite the pain in my cheek, I was glad of the fact that I had broken through that stupid kindness mask.

Finally we stopped at in front of a big black door, guarded on either side by men no different then the ones leading me.

These men grabbed the handle to the door and pulled. At first the room seemed empty but when I walked in I saw a group of people, roughly 13, looking at me with curiosity and alertness that I knew I had in my own eyes. They stared at me while the guards closed the door behind me.

I noticed they all had the same emerald/teal eyes I had. I wasn't sure what to say until a young girl with long double pony-tailed hair came up to me.

Hi my name is Lou Lou."

A/N: That was fun. I have the second chapter started, just have to type it, but a review or two would be very helpful. -


	2. A step into the world

A/N: There are not enough schiff fan fictions and certainly not enough MosesxKarman stories, so if you don't like boyxboy relationships turn back now, I won't accept flames.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except unrecognizable characters (so like in the first few chapters, everyone but the original 10 schiff and the head professor dude)

Warnings: Yaoi, character death, probably slight ooc from time to time.

Note: Any dialogue, name spelling and such, are from the subtitled original version. Also, I think Guy is a girl with an unfortunate name, I know that wiki says "he" but really, she doesn't strike me as a guy. Tell me what you think, am I the only one who thinks that?

**The awakening chapter 2:**

_A step into the world_

"My name is… Moses"

The name sounded weird coming from my mouth but I figured that I'd just have to get used to it. Lou Lou smiled up at me and took my hand leading me further into the room.

"These are the others: Gudrif, Darth, Jan, Irene, Dismas, Gestas, Guy, Salva, Jaeva, Ziv, Viro, and Karman."

I nodded in greeting to them, unsure of what to do. The last one, Karman, he glared at me, as if I had done something, I was not sure what, but he just had this look; I did not like it. One of them, the one with white hair that was a little wilder then mine but had the same style, Ziv, noticed the look and came to stand by Karmen.

"Aw, don't mind Karman, He's a little rash and it takes a little bit for him to trust someone, don't worry."

Karman just rolled his eyes and sat down looking anywhere but at me. I was about to comment when the door opened and an aid walked in.

"All of you are to come with me; the doctor wants to talk to you."

The man left and the schiff followed out behind him. I soon found myself between Ziv and Viro, who had short brown hair and seemed more the strong silent type.

"Finally, seems like we'll be getting some answers." Ziv commented. "Viro and I were the first ones here and they wouldn't answer anything, then the others started to come in slowly but surly, a few hours at a time; it took a whole day for you to arrive. Guess they where waiting for all of us, don't worry, I won't hold it against you."

Ziv gave me a wistful smile and it was then that I realized that I really admired the two schiff beside me; the way they could remain strong and impassive, or carefree despite their situation was amazing.

We entered a big room that had several doors lining the walls on either side of us; in the middle of the room stood the large man I had met with earlier.

"Hello, I'm sure you all have your questions you want to ask and I am prepared to answer some of them."

His fake smile continued as he looked at our group.

"You will all be living together, you could think of yourselves as a family; during your time here you will be learning not only from each other but from specialists here to teach you everything you need to know. In addition, you will be learning how to fight, as that will be important to what you end up doing here. Now these doors lead to individual rooms that each of you will occupy, this room is where you will learn everything, and the scientists in these rooms will be your only teachers during your stay here."

The man put his hands together and a faker smile then before graced his face as he continued his speech.

"Now I'm sure you're all anxious to learn, so please step into the rooms directed to you."

The Man was about to leave the room when Salva, a red head, spoke up.

"How long are we going to stay here?"

The man flinched; he obviously was not expecting questions.

"For as long as it takes now if you'll-"

"Is this all that there will be of us? Why don't you answer our questions?"

Either Salva did not notice the horrible purple the man was turning or she did not care. I could tell he was angry but maybe if he got angry enough he would answer our questions.

"Why aren't there any windows here?"

I knew it was a stupid question, but it had been plaguing me for a while now and I just wanted to know why.

It seemed, however, the man had finally reached the end of his short fuse.

"You want to know why there are no windows! _This_ is why!"

He rushed forward and grabbed Salva's wrist, pulling her towards a door marked by red letters that I could not read. He pushed the door open; a bright stream of light came in, running across the floor. With all his strength, he threw Salva out the door. We all ran towards it as her screams of pain echoed from outside, we watched as she twisted in agony and burst into bright green flames until there nothing was left.

A deep silence filled the room; the man closed the door and led us stiffly to our respective rooms. The time passed, we learned about letters and numbers, only getting a break to drink something red that they called our food, until the doors finally opened and guards stood outside waiting to lead us back to the cell. When I stepped out of my room, I looked back towards the door with the red letters, only to realize that they said "Exit".

* * *

That night we all went to sleep without a word to each other, I think we were still in some form of shock. Even as the steady breathing of the others whispered around me, I could not find sleep; I sat up and looked around at my companions, they all seemed so peaceful. I heard a noise like a grunt from behind he and I turned to see Karman looking at me; he made a gesture for us to separate from the sleeping mass, so we moved to the opposite side of the cell.

I could not look Karman I the eyes, I was afraid to see something I did not want to be there, though I did not know what.

"Why do you have to question everything?"

"What?" I was not sure what he was trying to get at.

"Are you trying to get us killed? Do you think this is a game?"

"No I never-"

"Do you think theses people are here for us, because, they're not; I don't know what it is they want but our best interests, and obviously our lives, are not important to them, so why don't you just keep silent and watch instead of question? Then maybe you won't get people killed."

It was silent for a while until he turned and went to lie back down in his spot; numbly I did the same.

It was that last part that had really stung; I had not meant to get anyone killed, of courseit was my fault wasn't it? If I hadn't asked my stupid question, she would be sleeping here with us now. Finally the darkness of sleep started to claim me and Karmen's words where the last things that I heard.

"_Why don't you just keep silent and watch instead of question? Then maybe people won't get killed."_

A/N: Well, that's it for now, I'm definitely back into the swing of things, so don't worry an update will follow, of course, a review always helps the process. In addition, I'm planning a KarmanxMoses one-shot to tide you over, it will be a lot more fluffy then this has been. (Considering this has next to no fluff.)


	3. Day by Day, Step by Step

A/N: All right I swore to be better with this story and I will it's just that life likes to get in my way, so I hope there are still people reading this. Also I've decided that the KarmanxMoses paring will be more then subtle.

Just a couple of things, actually people; Thank you so much to naturally morbid and jessica499499 you two have helped me so much with this story, and I hope you like this chapter because it's for you.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except unrecognizable characters (so like in the first few chapters, everyone but the original 10 schiff and the head professor dude)

Note: I will work on this more now that school is over.

* * *

Chapter 3

_Day by Day, Step by Step_.

The next day we went back to those rooms and continued our learning; I didn't look at the door that said 'Exit' nor did I look at Karman as we passed it.

About halfway through the day we were called out of our rooms and led into a different hallway. This hallway led to another one that led to a room; in this room stood the man. The same man who decided to make us live this life, the same man I hated.

When we had all gathered in the room, the scientists came up, handing us each a weapon.

"These are your weapons. Think of them as an extension of yourself. They have each been chosen for you to match your body type and style." His voice echoed throughout the room.

Without further explanation they left the room and locked the door behind them. I looked to Viro, silently asking if he had any idea what was going on; He just shrugged.

A crackling could be heard from above, then His voice filled the air, seemingly coming from everywhere and nowhere.

"This room will be like another classroom for you, here you will learn to fight and how to move as one. You will learn more about your powers and you will learn how to adapt."

His voice died and a door across from our group opened, in the door way was the ugliest thing I had ever seen. It was like a huge bat but with a tube for a mouth.

"These are chiropterans; they are like your distant cousins. You will be using them to practice. Your objective is simple destroy them before they destroy you."

Without warning the chiropteran came charging at us, with many more following behind. We split into groups, I was with Viro and Ziv, and cu them down one by one; soon no others came forward. We were covered in their blood and our adrenaline swept through us, none of us were hurt. It was exhilarating, the feeling this killing gave us, it was like we couldn't be hurt and no one would be able to beat us.

We were fools.

A couple days later we learned of our most powerful ability, something more valuable then super speed or strength, it was life.

We were in a training session, nothing different about it, us versus them, like always, only this time I found myself teamed with Karman. I didn't have time to think about how cold it had become between us, and it didn't seem like it was the first thing on his mind either, really I just tried to ignore him as best I could. I had just finished off the chiropteran I had been fighting, and I quickly looked around to see how the others where doing, when I looked toward Karman, I saw a huge chiropteran heading toward him, only he didn't notice; he was too preoccupied by the enemy in front of him. I didn't even think: I just acted. I ran forward and right as he was turning around I jumped in front of him, shielding him, I took the bat creatures attack full force in the stomach. It was like an explosion in my abdomen, blood flowed everywhere and the pain was unbearable. Somebody brought the chiropteran down, all I was aware of was Karman as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, propping me up, and held his other hand against my wound.

I didn't know death at the time, but I new it was not what I was feeling. It was like a heat was flowing around me, and slowly taking the pain away, I could feel my skin and organs repairing them selves, undoing the wound. I took Karman's hand away and looked down to see that I was completely healed, like as if nothing had happened, only the blood remained.

By this point the others had gathered around and saw that I was alright too. Karman took my hand and helped me up, stabilizing me, so that I wouldn't fall. We walked out of the room and went straight to the lead man, whom we had finally learned by accident was called Boris, who explained that this was our final ability.

We could heal ourselves, making us the perfect being for fighting: completely unbeatable. We went back to our rooms then and continued our studies, that was when I realized that Karman hadn't let me go, until now, since I had 'saved' him.

That night, after we had eaten and where confined to our cells, we were just sitting around talking a bit when Jaeva started to complain about a pain in her neck. She started rubbing at the area and it turned red, suddenly it was like her skin had too much pressure and it cracked; the cracks where hard and red like a broken jewel. It spread like fire across her neck and shoulders but stopped when it reached her collar bone. Irene jumped up, ran to the door, and started pounding on it.

"Hello?! Is there anyone there? We need someone to help Jaeva, she has something on her skin and it's hurting her! Please!"

Finally the door opened and a scientist rushed in and shooed everyone away. She looked at Jaeva's neck for a bit then signaled for a guard to come over; he helped her up and led her from the room. The scientist started to go to when Guy stood in her way.

"Where are you taking her?"

"You do not have to worry about your friend, she will be taken, examined, and helped, and then she should be back amongst you in a matter of hours, if not days." The scientist replied briskly, then quickly left the room as the doors closed behind her.

Silence flooded the room as we tried to process what had happened. We tried to come up with a reason as to why that had happened to Jaeva, and Lulu said it looked like a thorn was crawling across her skin; I guess the name stuck.

The night went on and so did the next day without sign of Jaeva, finally I had to ask.

As we went into the room of rooms I looked Faris in the eyes and asked about her.

"Where is our friend, Jaeva, she was taken away a couple of days ago."

He glared at me.

"I thought I had heard the last of you when I taught your last friend a lesson about the sun; or did you completely forget about her?"

My nails dug into my skin as I tried to control myself from doing something I would regret later. He never told us what happened to Jaeva, and we never saw her again.

Time passed and I noticed Karman getting closer to me, sitting and standing by me, fighting with me instead of against, and sometimes he would even take my hand or put an arm around my shoulders, although sometimes it was a brush of a hand instead, but even that was something. Things where finally looking a little brighter; but happy endings are never that easy.

A/N: Well this was short on purpose; this was where I wanted to end it. Now that summer is here there is more typing time AND I have through ch. 11 outlined, so it should be easier.

I have a question to put to those who care: In episode 27, and a few times after we see Moses saying, in Kerbit, "I want to believe in the word hope, as written in the book of the humans" Now it occurred to me that this book might be The Bible. I have never read it or studied it, I'm not a religious person, but if you have, would you mind telling me if the Bible ever talks about 'hope'.


	4. Change is painful

A/N: Hi! I hope you all liked the last chapter. If you love yaoi then you may want to grab a few tissues, this is going to be a very depressing chapter.

Warning: This is yaoi, well, shonen-ai, if you don't know that by now, and don't like yaoi then this is your last chance to get out.

_

* * *

__Change is painful_

Humans have a variety of words for different things. They have words that describe feelings when you hear someone you know has died. They have a word for when you can't stand someone. They also have words for when you get a warm feeling in your stomach that makes you feel like everything will be fine or that anything is possible.

This last word was called hope.

I found it while reading a book that the humans found important called The Bible. In this book there were many stories but always a constant theme: hope. It seemed like a beacon which led people into a better place. This was also present in the story of 'Moses' or the one in this book.

When I first started this story I nearly dropped the book – I thought for just a moment that it was talking about me. I quickly realized this wasn't the case. This Moses was a prophet who led "the chosen people" from slavery; he parted a sea! How was I ever supposed to live up to a man like that? I couldn't even stop my _friends _from dying.

I never told anyone about my feelings on the story, though I know the others had read it too.Only one person talked to me about it: Karman. We had started to grow closer – though anyone who didn't know him well enough wouldn't have noticed. He still acted just as aloof and cold as when I first met him but when we were alone he would talk to me like a civil person.He came up to me one night when the others were sleeping.

"Moses . . . That story in the book we read – maybe it meant something."

I couldn't believe what he was saying, it seemed too outrageous.

"Like what?"

"Maybe you're supposed to do that too: lead your people out of their hell hole and into a better land."

I sighed and sat by the wall, closing my eyes.

"Karman, I can't part water – I haven't even seen water before. Besides that Moses led 'God's chosen people', I don't think it's likely that we're god's chosen people. If we were, we wouldn't be here."

"Maybe, but, Moses-"

"And another thing: these aren't my people. None of you are 'my people'. I'm not worthy to be your leader; besides, if anyone were to lead us out of here it would be Ziv or Viro!"

He was silent after that. He never brought it up again, but it didn't change our relationship either. I was glad of that.

The next day I was sitting with Ziv and Viro while Karman was talking to Irene. They kept looking at me in a weird way until finally I had to know what was going on.

"What is it? Why do you keep glancing at me like that?"

They averted their eyes.

"Like what?" asked Ziv.

"Don't play dumb with me; you've been doing it for the last half-hour."

Viro sighed.

"All right, we were trying to figure something out."

"About me? You could have just asked."

There was silence for a moment before Ziv decided to cut in.

"How much time would you say you spend with Karman?"

I was confused; this was what they wanted to know?

"The same amount of time as everyone else."

"Yes, but you two are always together and I _know_ you two talk at night after the others are asleep."

"Well maybe we do but what does that have to do with anything?"

He sighed.

"Moses, are you in love with Karman?"

"What? No, I don't think so. Love is a human emotion – we can't feel those."

We had learned of the human emotion 'love' just the other day. Ziv had taken a liking to it and he continued to think about it and try to understand it better. Really, it hadn't affected me because all of the humans around us continued to remind us that we were man-made and in that way we couldn't feel human emotions**.**

"Even so, you don't think there might be something more between you and Karman?"

"No, we're just friends."

That's where the conversation ended but I couldn't stop thinking about Ziv's words.

In the next few days the conversation was driven from my mind as the thorn reentered it. We discovered that Viro had the thorn and was keeping it from everyone – even Ziv. He was upset when he found out: not only did Viro have the thorn but he had hidden it from him too. They quickly made up though when it became obvious that we all had to work together to hide Viro's condition. It worked until one morning we awoke to find the thorn had spread faster than it had on Jaeva – over night it had crawled up his neck so that it was clearly visible. Before we could think of anything to do a solider had opened the door and stepped in to fetch us for our 'classes'. He noticed the glimmering red cracks and quickly left the room. Ziv moved closer to Viro and firmly held onto his hand. We waited in nervous anticipation until the door opened again and none other than Faris walked in. He moved to look at Viro but the rest of us moved closer to him, defiance plain in our eyes and stances. He merely looked at us as if we were pests that annoyed him.

"Move out of the way."

We didn't.

"Guards!" He called.

Soon the room was full of guards who grabbed us and moved us out of the way; Ziv fought the hardest.

Faris looked at Viro's neck and signaled to one of the guards in the doorway.

"Take him away."

Ziv fought harder against his guard.

"No, Viro – don't take him! He's fine; please don't take him!"

The guards quickly followed Faris out, ignoring Ziv's pleas. After they left, the guards led us to the circular room, where we parted ways.

I had never seen Ziv so broken.

That night as we sat in our cell, a bed passed over the walk way above us with a stiff figure laying on it. The bed hit a bump in the path and the hand that was hanging off the bed cracked at the wrist and fell off into our cage.

There was no doubt in our minds that it was Viro's. We had no time to grieve.

Just a few days later we were told that our classes would be postponed for a brief amount of time as well as our training. That night we found out that Ziv had developed the thorn – it started on his neck. His condition worsened as the hours went by. There was nothing we could do; nothing could alleviate his pain and we couldn't get help or risk him being taken away. We were in a stand-still.

On the tenth day of our 'break' his condition took a turn for the worse. It spread fast and covered his body almost fully with a map of red vines and he was constantly in pain. We surrounded him, thankful at least that we could be with him in the end.

The silence that had filled the room was broken by Ziv's weak laughter, which was quickly followed by a grunt of pain.

"You know what I find funny? I think they were lying – I think we _can _feel human emotions, but we just aren't _supposed _to."

"What makes you say that?" Guy asked, lightly brushing his cheek.

His eyes grew soft as he looked past us to something beyond life itself.

"Because, I know without a doubt that I loved Viro and nothing anyone can say will change that. I lived for him; His smile made me smile; his anger made me angry; his pain was mine and although I'll miss all of you, I can't wait to see him again."

The silence came over us again as we thought of his words.

In the end he completely crystallized and crumbled. The name of his loved one was the last thing he said.

The next morning the guards looked in on us and saw the pile of crystal dust, it was quickly cleaned out. The only thing left of our "leader" was a handful of dust that Irene was able to save.

A/N: Well that was depressing… anyway that's the end of the chapters with absolutely no foundation, the next chapter is based on the scenes in episodes 27 and 28.

Pretend they decided to try and figure out why the Schiff were developing the Thorn.

Till next time, I hope you liked this chapter! -


	5. Time to escape

A/N: I just want to say thank you soooo much for reviewing, it means a lot. Also I wanted to remind those of you reading that all the dialogue from the episodes is from the subtitles in the **Japanese** version, not the English.

Thank you so much to my beta, **Killing Lies**!!

Disclaimer: Don't own, if I did the series would be about the Schiff.

We all sat or stood in different parts of the room, each in our own thoughts. I stood in the middle of our only light patch, thinking of the deaths of all our friends and how no one seemed to care at all. Thoughts and images of the thorn swirled in my head.

_

* * *

__Time to escape_

I was vaguely aware that Lulu and Karman where leaning against the wall behind me, and to my left sat Irene, staring at the pile of crystal dust. She reached her hand down and scooped some of it up, then let it slide out of her hand, back onto the floor.

That's when I decided to voice the thoughts in my mind.

"We're getting out of here tonight."

"What do we do after that?" Karman's response was soft but questioning.

I didn't turn to him; I just continued to stare up through the grate.

"Search for some way to live without fearing the thorn."

It was Lulu's turn to speak up.

"Do you have a specific plan?"

"No."

"Well then…"

I could hear the doubt in Karman's voice and the feelings I had been having finally rose to the surface so that they could be heard in my voice.

I reached up and grabbed hold of the bars in front of me, almost willing them to disappear and let us out.

"If we just wait here, the thorn will appear on all of us! I want to believe in the word "hope" as written in the book for the humans!"

I could feel the others shifting around me, touched by the word "hope", as if it had lit a fire inside of us.

We didn't know what it was but it filled us with a desire to get out, to leave and try to survive.

I knew I had finally gotten through to them.

We didn't take time to plan; we knew we just had to go for it. However, first we had to get out of our cage.

Irene ran to the door and started to pound on it.

"Please!" she cried, "We need help! Someone – please!"

Immediately the door opened and a guard stepped in. Dismas and Gestas double teamed him, knocking him unconscious. Irene darted out the door and knocked out the other guard that stood outside.

She glanced around and motioned for us to come out. We left the room and ran down the halls towards the circular room. When we got there we opened the closet door that stored our weapons and pulled out the deadly instruments.

Now we could escape.

We ran out of the room and down the hall, in the direction that we never went. We met some scientists and several soldiers, but none of them where a match for us.

At some point someone pulled an alarm because more soldiers filled the halls and a loud blaring noise filled the building.

We turned the corner to find a "firing squad" lined up at the other end. The second they saw us, they opened fire. Bullets blazed past us; if they hit us the wound quickly healed.

I rushed towards one of the men and sliced him in half, while next to me one was brought down by Karman's spear. Guy quickly slid behind one of the soldiers and right before she slit open his throat I heard him call us monsters. As we left that corridor his words echoed in my head.

We were monsters? Compared to whom? Compared to the soldiers and scientists here? What sort of person watches creatures suffer? Who are the monsters in that situation? The observers or the victims? The thought made me scoff under my breath. Humans…

As we moved through the building, the soldiers lessened and the scientist grew more numerous. We killed all of them; after all, they were responsible for all this, weren't they?

Then we turned onto a new hall and there at the end of it was Boris.

Faster then he could blink we killed the scientists surrounding him and stopped him from going any farther. I grabbed him by his tie and looked him dead in the eyes. I could feel the others standing behind me, watching, on guard in case he tried to escape or if more soldiers came along.

"H-how did you-? What do you think you're doing?"

I could see the shock and anger in his eyes.

"We're escaping from you're little zoo, now tell us what we are."

He paused a moment, but then seemed to come to a decision.

"I'll tell you why you're programmed for early death and the stigmata on you're skin. It's because you are weapons. Thinking and autonomous weapons, with no need for maintenance. And when the time comes, you will die, all by yourselves. You're the most economical tools for war."

Anger welled up in me and I slammed his head into the glass behind him.

"Tell us how we can escape our fate!"

"You must drink the blood of a special girl and those who surround her. Her name is…"

A trickle of blood made its way from his mouth and he paused as if considering something, then contempt flared across his face.

"Saya."

I whipped my scythe around and quickly decapitated him, finally removing that loathsome smirk from his face.

I took a moment to calm down and turned towards the others.

"Let's go."

"Where to? Where are we going?"

Irene's clear voice cut through the silence that filled the building.

"Anywhere but here."

The others nodded and accepted my answer, then they looked to me as if I were to decide where we were going. That's when it hit me; they expected me to lead them. But to where? None of us new, but they trusted me to be their salvation. So I walked toward the exit, stopping briefly to look at documents concerning us on Boris' desk. That's where we learned that a girl named Diva was somehow connected to Saya. Maybe she could help as well. Then we opened the main doors and stepped out into the night.

Like the Moses from the book of the humans, I led "my people" away from those who wanted to harm us and into the unknown of the world.

A/N: Well, this one's early. - Anyway, I was watching the episode that had these scenes in them and I saw that Moses called the lead scientist "Boris" and that's when I realized I was a dork and had been calling him Faris this entire time, so I've fixed it in all the chapters. Anyway, I hope you liked this one, the next one should be fun to write, it's when the Schiff see the real world… including animals and cars…


	6. Getting by

**A/N:** Sorry it took so long… I got lazy. --;

By the way, stupid you tube no longer has the Japanese version of the episodes, so I can't use the subtitles for what the characters say. Any suggestions?

**Disclaimer:** Don't own, if I did there would be an entire series based on Moses, Karman, and Irene.

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_Trying to get by._

It was harder then we thought, living on our own I mean. We had to hunt for our own blood instead of it being brought to us each day. Usually it would just be the general human who had chosen that night to walk alone. We never attacked a group, sinceit was easier that way.

Our main problem was the sun; we had to be careful when ever the sun was rising or setting, andwe would usually find some abandoned house or cave to stay in but the moment the sun was safely behind the hills we were out and moving;we never stayed in one place for too long. We had to find this Saya before it was too late.

We found out that first night that the world was a lot more complex then the humans in Kerbed had led us to believe.

We had traveled a while and weresearching the woods for a place to stay for the day. We had just entered a clearing when we heard something in the bushes; no one moved. Slowly and cautiously a brown creature came hopping out,its long ears held up.

Silence and then a whispered: "What is it?"

Lulu sniffed the air.

"It smells kinda' funny, but I don't know what it is."

Karman shifted, causing the whatever-it-was to go completely still, its eyes wide and pink nose twitching.

"What if it's dangerous?"

Irene was the first to move slowly she lowered herself to the ground, and reached a hand out to it; the thing looked ready to bolt. And it did, when Irene's hand was only six inches away it turned and ran back into the safety of the bushes.

We learned later that the creature was called a rabbit, and… it was completely harmless. We learned a lot of things when we were not traveling. The daylight hours were long and sleeping only to pass time could get really boring, so to satisfy our growing curiosity we would read books we stole from shops.

Books were not the only thing that we stole; we also took clothes. We couldn't stay in the short pants and sleeveless shirts that we had in Kerbed, not when we were traveling in the cold of night. So we found and took some outfits, boots, and cloaks, so that we'd be protected from the sunrays we had to briefly endure at sunrise and sunset.

We didn't spend all our time hiding from the sun, sleeping, and reading during the sunlight hours. We found that when wearing our cloaks and keeping to the shadows we could manage in the daylight,it wasn't easy though, so we didn't do it often. When we did, we studied these creatures we had grown to see as destructors, torturers, and killers. These humans were different from the ones we had known but they were still harsh and loud. There was one exception though, and that would bethe young ones. They were untainted and innocent, at least, for now.

One thing that we couldn't make sense of was a human invention called the 'car'. We just couldn't understand why humans would want to move around in something made completely of metal. It seemed dangerous and impossible.

Overall, we adjusted well, and even made a sort of routine. Until one night we got our first lead.

I had been observing the humans and decided to head to the abandoned building we were using as shelter. A flashing box that sat in a shop window, which always seemed to captivate humans, caught my eye as I passed it. I stopped and watched the moving pictures as a human was talking about some company called Cinq Flèches. A face flashed on the screen with the letters CEO next to it. The person seemed so familiar, yet I couldn't place where I had seen it. I continued to watch as they described one of the facilities that was near where we were now.

I continued my journey 'home',all the while thinking about that face.

I entered the one roomed building to see that everyone was back from whatever they had been doing. Guy must have seen that I was lost in thought because she came over and laid a hand on my shoulder, pulling me back to reality.

"Is there something wrong, Moses?"

I contemplated brushing it off but the question continued to nag me.

"Do you remember a man with blonde hair and blue eyes… maybe someone from Kerbed?"

"There are a lot of blonde and blue-eyed people in the world."

"Yes, but…"

I didn't know how else to explain it. If only I could show them the picture. Irene came over as well and led me over to the others, sitting me down between herself and Karman.

"Why don't you tell us what this is about and maybe we can figure it out."

I nodded and told them about the flashing box and what it said, and about the man they were talking about. When I finished, no one else seemed to know either.

"Wait! That company's name, what was it? Cinq Flèches? It sounds familiar. Wasn't it on one of those papers about Diva?"

Guy's revelation made me remember as well; that was where I had seen him.

"He's one of Diva's chevaliers."

No one said anything for a moment; they were still trying to absorb the fact that this was our first real lead since we escaped. However, I had already thought of a sort of plan.

"Someone needs to go and see if the regular chiropteran blood will work to rid us of the thorn."

Karman looked at me, a strange expression on his face.

"How would we know if it worked? The person would have to be effected by the thorn."

There was more silence then Gestas cleared his throat and stepped forward.

"Dismas and I will go."

"But, that means…you don't have it do you?" Karman asked.

They merely nodded, andthen they looked at me, as if asking if it was all right to do this. I considered them for a moment. This could very well be a suicide mission, especially if they turned around and went after the chevalier directly.

In the end I agreed. They left soon after.

As I watched them disappear into the night, I had to wonder.

_Am I doing the right thing?_

#

**A/N: **Well, there's that. I liked parts of this chapter, but all in all, it didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped.

Please Review!


	7. Second Guess

A/N: I'm sooooooo sorry, there is no real excuse. The only one I have is that my computer got a virus and we took it in so that it could be fixed and the idiots erased all my files, including chapter 7 of this fic.

I wanted to get this posted sooner rather then later so it's not Beta-edited, sorry for any mistakes.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything….maybe for Christmas…

Warnings: Slight BL, don't like, don't read.

* * *

The room was barley lit by a small lamp in the middle of the room, and hardly any sound was made.

In one corner of the small shack/house we were using as a shelter, Gudrif and Darth were talking quietly. I didn't really want to listen to what they were saying; I had a good idea already.

The others had left the house to be alone with their thoughts. No one really knew what to expect when Dismas and Gestas came back….if they came back. The walls seemed to close in around me s I thought of this possibility, as if they knew it would be my fault if anything happened to them and they didn't want me to forget that.

There was no way I could.

I quickly left the house; fresh air was starting to sound really good. I also wanted to see how the others were doing.

I didn't have to look far there in the yard sat Irene. She sat on a fallen tree, staring at the moon; it would be full soon.

I sat next to her on the log and waited for her to speak first.

"Moses, is there a point to our existence?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's just something I read once, in a human bookstore. The main character was chasing his destiny and the entire thing was about his purpose in life."

I looked down at the grass below us, still wet with dew from the morning before.

"I don't know. I suppose there was one for us when we were created but that destiny changed when we escaped."

"Do you think there can be a new destiny for us…after the thorn?"

I looked at her meting her eyes.

"I hope so."

She nodded, slowly, then she stood up and offered me a hand up as well. I took it and stood, meeting her eyes again. She smiled softly at me, a grateful look in her eyes and turned from me, heading back into the house.

Not ready to return to the accusing walls of the house, I turned back to the forest and walked through the darkness. My thoughts seemed chaotic as I tried to concentrate on too many things at once. Irene's question flitted through my mind, bring up more questions then I wanted to deal with at the moment. Namely, what _would_ we do if Dismas and Gestas succeeded?

These thoughts were pushed back as I entered a small clearing and my eyes fell on the familiar figure of Lou Lou sitting serenely among a clump of wildflowers.

"What are you doing, Lou Lou?"

She looked up in surprise, then smiled as I walked closer and kneeled in front of her.

"Heya, Moses, nothing I guess, just thinking."

"Oh? About what?"

"Well, I guess I'm worried about Dismas and Gestas. I don't want them to get hurt."

My eyes softened and a small smile spread across my face.

"Me neither, Lou Lou."

She looked up at the sky and smiled lightly. I followed her gaze and saw that it was directed at the brightest star in the sky. She turned her gaze back to me, curiosity filling her eyes.

"Moses, if you had one wish, what would it be?"

I was taken aback by her question, I had really never thought about it. Would it be 'to have us all together again', or 'a cure for the thorn', or maybe 'to be with _him_ forever'?

"I don't know."

"Oh. Do you want to know what mine would be?"

"Sure."

"I would want all of us to be together for ever without having to fear the thorn."

Leave it to Lou Lou to take all my wishes and put them in one. I stood preparing to leave.

"I think that would be my wish too."

She smiled at me in a way that made you feel like there was nothing bad in the entire world. I placed my hand on her head in a comforting gesture as I passed, heading deeper into the forest.

I didn't get far as a new voice stopped me just inside the cover of the trees.

"It's amazing how innocent she is, yet so caring."

"Guy, how are you?"

I looked up to the branches where Guy stood looking down at me. She took a step off the branch and, in the blink of an eye, appeared at my side.

"I'm fine, how about you, you don't seem like yourself."

"Of course not, I might have just sent two of my friends to their deaths."

There was silence as she seemed to contemplate this.

"They were dying anyway, though, weren't they? They had the thorn and that eventually would have led to their demise, at least this way, you're giving them a final shot at life."

I smiled a little at Guy's ability to make everything seem to fit right. Honestly I envied how she saw the world sometimes.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Thanks."

"For what?"

"For making things seem a little bit ok. Sometimes I can't help but doubt myself."

She seemed to scoff at me then she shook her head as though trying to shake away what I had said.

"Moses, you are impossible at times."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it, if it weren't for you and your decisions, we'd still be at Kerbed, slowly dying off and being treated as nothing more then experiments. We are all better off because of your leadership, because of you we actually get a chance at a normal life; or as normal as we can get."

As much as I stilled denied it to some degree, what she said had some truth to it. Guy gave a light laugh and patted me on the shoulder, slowly walking in the direction of the house.

"Weather you believe me or not, it is true. I'm going back to the house; I believe Karman is by the river."

Sometimes she was _too_ perceptive. I had just been wondering where Karman had wondered off to. I continued my walk into the forest; I was just about to turn back when I heard the faint sound of running water.

Resolving to turn back if he wasn't there, I started toward the sound. I didn't walk more then a couple feet past the next clumping of trees to see him sitting at the bank's edge, watching the water.

"Karman."

He tensed when he heard me and it occurred to me that he hadn't heard me coming. Something must have been bothering him. I walked towards him and tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder. He didn't shy away like I was expecting him to. Instead he placed his hand on top of mine. I took this as his way of asking me to sit with him so I did.

Silence filled the small clearing and a comfortable air of peace seemed to fall over us. Eventually the silence was broken.

"Why do you think they didn't tell us?"

He didn't have t say who for me to know what he was talking about, the question had occurred to me too.

"I don't know. Maybe they thought they'd be a hindrance to us if we knew."

"Hmmm."

There was more silence.

"Will you promise me something, Moses?"

"Sure."

"Promise that, no matter what, you will tell me if you ever get the thorn."

"Karman, I don't know-"

"Please Moses."

"……I promise…"

"…….Me too….."

I looked into his eyes, not really knowing what I was searching for, although the trust, timid-ness, and….something else, seemed to satisfy my searching.

Somehow my hand wound up in his during our conversation, r maybe it had never left, and he stood up, pulling me with him. I didn't really want this to end, but I knew we had things to do, and people to check on.

As we walked back through the woods his hand never left mine and unfamiliar feelings fluttered in my chest. We continued in silence until we got to the last tree grouping before the house.

Karman stopped my progress with a small tug on my hand. I turned to look at him, confusion in my eyes. Without saying a word he pulled me to his chest and held me there, arms wrapped around my back. After a hesitant second I put my arms around him as well. We stayed that way for a bit, but like the river, the moment had to end, and we separated and walked to the house, hands apart.

As we entered the house, two things became apparent, Dismas and Gestas weren't back yet and everyone was beginning to worry. I took a quick glance around the room and turned back towards the outside world. One strong hand kept me from leaving. I looked back into the eyes of Karman, the expression on his face told me everything I needed to hear; '_Be careful.'_

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A/N: I think I'll end it there; the next chapter will consist of episode 21 and another of Karman's mood swings.

I got stuck half way through this chapter, so I decided to watch ep. 44-45, the driving force behind this fanfic and I realized that although I said I'd only be using the Japanese version for the episode dialogue, I think I might use some English as well. I noticed that there was a part in 45 that made a whole lot more sense in the English version then it did in the Japanese version.

I hope you liked the chapter.


	8. Confrontation in the woods

**A/N:** I'm sorry!!!! Procrastination sucks…. feel free to throw stuff at me, I deserve it. I hope this chapter is enough of an "I'm sorry".

By the way, I re watched the episode that this chapter is based off of (Thank you **naturally-morbid** for those links!! ) and I found out that Khirbet is a real place….in Israel….but they put this Khirbet in Iceland…. How confusing.

Thanks again to the wonderful **Killing Lies **for beta-ing this!

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing…. *sob*

_Confrontation in the Woods_

Hopeless; Helpless; Weak; Angry; Crushed; Sadness; Tears.

Uncontrollable emotions rushed through me as I watched the humans put what was left of my friends-turned-familyinto body bags. The chevalier that Dismas and Gestas were supposed to have defeated stood idly by, as if no one had tried to kill him, the only evidence being his torn and bloodied shirtsleeve.

I had arrived too late to help them; their dismembered bodies lay all over the street, no hope of ever reconstituting. I could only watch as the men in their truck showed up and took them away. Even after they were gone and the street below was deserted I could not move. I felt so stupid and helpless; thoughts of "I should have been the one" "I should have been here to help them" and "How could I let this happen" ran rampant in my head.

All I could feel was the crushing guilt as finally my emotions caught up with my shocked mind and I fell forward onto my knees. Warm salty water fell from my eyes and I recognized this as crying, and suddenly grief washed through me.

I stayed this way for a while, just letting my emotions take over and run their course. Finally the tears dried and the grief ebbed away so that it was still there but not asoverpowering. I stood and wiped my face and eyes clear of the teardrops. Taking one last glance at the once gruesome scene I leapt off the roof where I had been perched and ran to where the others were waiting for me.

As I ran my face and eyes dried and I knew none of the others would be able to tell what had happened by my appearance. I paused as I left the cover of the trees and came into a clearing that was obviously once a grave yard surrounded by ruined old buildings. There in the middle of the clearing was what was left of my family.

I walked slowly towards them, knowing that what I was about to tell them was not what they would want to hear.

"Well? How did it go?"

Irene looked to me hopefully but her face fell as what she saw in my eyes was not pleasant. I looked to each of them in turn, conveying my dismal news without words.

There was silence. Then Karman spoke up.

"Dismas and Gestas are dead?!"

"Yes,only us eight remain."

I tried to show no emotion as I looked away from Karman.

"You're awfully calm about it."

I winced internally at the venom in his words; I knew that any death in our group would cause Karman to lash out.

"Don't you feel anything?"

I turned to look at him, prepared to defend my self.

"We have all agreed on this mission. Even if we morn they won't beback."

I turned away from him, thinking back to the roof top when I found them. I heard the suppressed disbelief and anger in Karman's voice.

"Moses, how dare you say something like that?!"

"Can you be quiet?"

We turned to look at Guy who stood motionless on top of one of the ruined buildings, staring at the full moon.

"Take a look. It's such a beautiful moonlit night. I wish you wouldn't ruin it."

"Damn you, Guy!"

"Stop it, Karman."

I interrupted Karman's anger as I noticed Irene going into a trance-like state, searching for Saya.

"Why are you stopping me?"

I merely turned away from him towards Irene as the wind picked up and she opened her eyes.

"They're to the south."

"South? How far are they?"

"I can't hear their voices clearly. They seem to have gained ground during the day."

"I see. Let's go."

One by one the others ran off towards the south till it was just Karman, Guy and I. Karman huffed, obviously, still a little upset and ran off with the others. I turned back towards Guy, seeing she hadn't moved an inch.

"Hurry up."

I turned and ran off with the others, a little while later she joined us and we silently progressed to where we thought our salvation lay.

We ran until the sun began to peak up over the horizon. We decided to stop and rest in a cave not too far from where Saya and her chevalier would be passing, according to Irene.

There was silence in the cave as day passed only a few conversations were held. I tried to avoid Karman's gaze and he made it easy as he avoided mine as well. We did look at each other once but I quickly looked away not wanting to see whatever his gaze had in store for me.

Finally the sun began to sink beneath the horizon and it was safe enough for us to move into position. We decided to ambush them on a bridge thatthey would be crossing, and Guy confirmed they where headed our way.

The moon hung high in the sky as we waited in the trees;at last they appeared, Saya in the lead, almost as if she was trying to run away from her chevalier. He caught up with her and grabbed her arm.

"Saya, wait."

"I told you not to worry about me, didn't I?"

She fell back, obviously weakened. I saw Karman smirk and I knew he was thinking that this would be easier then we thought.

"You should rest a bit."

We made our move then, positioning our selves equally on either side of them, Irene and Guy hidden in the trees, just in case. I could tell the chevalier sensed us as he pulled Saya close and muttered something to her.

"We've caught up with you at last, Saya." Karman's voice floated on the air.

"You know me? Who are you people? Are you from the Red Shield?"

Slowly we walked towards them, closing off all exits.

"You came to take me back? Well, I'm not coming back."

Whatever Saya's chevalier said to her caused her to be silent and she looked at me right as we pulled out our weapons, preparing for a fight.

"We are the Schiff, the ones living under barrowed time."

"Schiff?"

Karman pointed his spear at her.

"We are here to take your blood!"

Everything happened at once. Karman lunged at the pair and the chevalier jumped into the air. I followed and tried to attack Saya but he dragged her out of the way. The chevalier jumped off along the river, trying to escape.

"We won't let you get away!" Karman shouted as he jumped off after them, andthe rest of us followed.

We chased after them along the rocks of the river and into the forest but they somehow got away from us.

"Where did they go?" Karman growled.

We stood there in the forest looking around, listening, andwaiting. Out of nowhere a tree branch shot out of the forest, barely giving Karman any time to react as he dodged it. It smashed through a tree and he landed a little way away from me.

"Karman!" I yelled, trying to see if he was alright.

Suddenly I could sense the chevalier and I barely dodged his attack. I brought my scythe up in defense and felt him heading for us.

"I sense his presence."

He lands in front of us and reveals his chiropteran hand. I can feel the others shift into an offensive position as I do the same.

"Saya's chevalier?" I said, confirming what I already knew.

I raised my scythe and rushed at him, he dodged but I quickly swung back around at him. He attacked and I used my momentum to jump over him and get out of Karman's way as he used the chevalier's distraction as an advantage. However, he brought up the large case he carriedand used it as a shield against Karman. He jumped away as Jan came rushing up, hammer held back. The chevalier again blocked the attack and jumped away. Lou Lou chased after him trying to get a hit on him.

Lou Lou and Jan both attacked the chevalier but he grabbed Lou Lou's axe and Jan's weapon got stuck in the case and the chevalier spun them around effectively shaking them off and getting rid of the weapons.

I used his distraction as an advantage and tried to hit him but he jumped out of the way, I used the momentum to launch myself behind him and tried to hit him that way but he landed on a tree and used this against me and kicked me out of the way, launching me back. I slid for several feet until I was finally stopped by a large rock.

I lay there a second, collecting my self again, when Karman showed up a little ways away, he came to stand in front of me as I tried to get up, not facing me.

"That chevalier:he's not bad."

Karman chased after him and the rest of us followed close behind. Guy stepped out in front of him, cutting off his escape while the rest of us surrounded him.

Guy attacked but he dodged, causing her to cut down a tree near where he was. He took off again but Guy was close behind, gaining on him. Without warning Guy took off in a separate direction, leaving the chevalier behind. He paused and looked after her, worry in his eyes.

"Guy!" I shouted, trying to make her explain but when I turned to face him, the chevalier was racing towards us. He tried to get past us but Darth came up in front of him and hit him square in the chest with his mace, knocking him back against a tree and leaving him defenseless.

Gudrif appeared behind him and stabbed the chevalier through the back with his sword. Then Karman appeared and stabbed the chevalier in the stomach with his lance. Time seemed to stand still for a second and everyone paused, thinking we had him. He took this pause and ran off, leaving us behind.

"Damn!"

Karman came to stand next to me, looking after the chevalier. I took a quick glance at him then motioned for the others to follow.

"He can't get far, at least,not in that condition."

Again I glanced at Karman and our eyes locked for just a moment, but it was long enough for an understanding to lie between us and we chased after him; through the trees and overgrowth of the forest till finally we arrived in a semi clearing.

When we came to this clearing we saw Guy already drinking the chevalier's blood who was pinned to a tree with her weapons.

"Guy..." My voice comes out at a whisper, confusion running through my mind. Why would she drink his blood, we would only know for certain if it worked if the person drinking had the Thorn. Unless…

She stepped away from the chevalier and pulled down her sleeve, revealing the red crystalline cracks that were the Thorn's stigma.

"Guy, you…" Karman's voice conveyed the shock everyone felt.

"You have the Thorn stigma." I tried to keep my voice emotionless.

She turned towards me, a slight smile on her face.

"It's been like this since the last full moon."

"Haji!"

Immediately Saya crawled out of a hollow tree trunk.

"Saya! Watch out!"

I knew without looking that Irene had appeared behind Saya and I heard her sword sink into the wet earth and Saya's cry of pain as it hit her shoulder.

"I've finally found you." Irene purred.

Saya pulled out her small dagger and held it to her blood before brandishing it towards Irene.

"If you're a chiropteran, then my blood will…"

"I know. Your blood brings despair to chiroptera. However, we do not fear your blood."

"After all, your blood may be our hope." Guy finished for her.

Guy started to say something when she pitched forward. I ran to her side, catching her before she hit the ground.

"Guy! Why?"

My disbelief took hold as I saw the thorn spreading up her face, faster then it would normally. It shouldn't have been spreading at all!

"A chevalier's blood cannot cleanse our stigma. That's how it works."

Slowly Karman came up behind me and looked toward Irene and Saya.

"Then…"

"Saya!" The chevalier called out as Karman picked up Irene's sword, ready to attack Saya.

From behind the mountain range sunlight began to brighten the sky and creep over the edge, threatening to burn us alive.

"And we were so close!"

Panic seized me as the thought of losing him or anyone else to the sun's rays filled my mind.

"Fall back, Karman."

Without a word we ran off to the safety of some ruined buildings about a mile away. By the time we got to the shade Guy's condition had worsened significantly and all she could do was lay where we had put her. I knew though, that if she stayed there, she would soon be touched by the sun and burn.

We surrounded her on her deathbed, not saying a word. Finally she broke the silence.

"Don't be sad. Soon…I knew this day would come. Now I know this body cannot be cleansed with a chevalier's blood. Just having proved that is enough for me."

"Guy…" The grief Irene felt showed through her words. There was nothing any of us could say.

"It's just…I would like to have once walked under the sun in broad daylight."

Pain shot through me at the thought of never walking in the sun and how, now, Guy never would. I could feel Karman's gaze on me, but I tried to ignore it. He looked away and pulled his cloak closer around him.

"We should get going."

I glared at the ground, trying to find a reason to stay, but the sun would not give me one. I turned towards the others, now standing in the doorway. I started towards them but paused and turned back towards Guy.

"At least and at last, you meet your end under the sun, Guy."

I turned and with the others ran into the retreating night as green flames engulfed our friend.

A/N: Aw, man, that was hard, long, and depressing…. Never a good combination….

I hope you liked it, it took several hours and a lot of patience, not something I have much of.


	9. The Darkness of the Night

A/N: I apologize for it being late… again, however this time, it was done on the 15th and do to exams I just now got it back from her.

Disclaimer: OMG! I like so don't own it!

The Darkness of the Night

The moon hung high in the sky, its silver beams brightening all it touched. Everything seemed to be asleep and it was as if no one had died recently and there wasn't a hidden war between two chiroptera queens brewing.

I sat alone on the roof of the abandoned building we were staying in. I was aware that it was slightly cold, but I wasn't affected by it – I was already cold. I couldn't stop the barrage of thoughts and degradations that swarmed my consciousness like locusts.

This wasn't the way things were supposed to have happened. No one was supposed to die; I should've been leading them all to safety, but instead I had lost three of us in less then two days.

After Guy's death, we had run for a long time, heading in the direction of where Irene sensed Saya. By the time we got to where her presence was strongest we only found lots of blood and broken down buildings; so we moved on.

No one spoke and finally exhaustion – mental, not physical** – **caught up with us and we decided to stop. Irene and Lou Lou both tried to speak to me, but I wouldn't let them and left the building.

I didn't go far, but they left me alone anyway. As I sat staring at the moon, I knew that I shouldn't be cutting myself off from them, but I couldn't help it. One of my closest friends had died in front of me and I hadn't been able to do anything to help her. I suppose it was natural to feel cold and sad. To feel as if it was entirely your fault.But it really was my fault; I was wrong about the chevalier being able to help. Anger flashed through me as a small voice in the back of my head nagged me about everything else that I could have done to help her. But Guy was gone, and there was nothing left to do but mourn.

The door of the building opened and closed and I heard the sound of feet walking through wet grass. I didn't want to see who it was, so I just pulled my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them and buried my face in them. There was a familiar whoosh sound as the person jumped up to the roof and landed softly on the tiles next to me.

Dread pooled in the pit of my stomach and I tried to ignore the intruder, hoping they would some how hear my thoughts and leave. As if trying to annoy me the person did the exact opposite and plopped down beside me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

"You can't stay here by yourself." Karman's voice, soft but firm hung in the night air.

"Watch me." Came my bitter response. I knew it was a childish thing to say but I couldn't help it; I wasn't in the mood for company right now.

"You need to talk, I know you, I know that's how you get through things, and you need to get through this. The others need you… especially right now."

"How insightful you are. Who'd have thought it?"

I felt him wince and pull his arm from around my shoulders. It was a low blow, I knew it but somehow I couldn't stop myself from saying it. I just didn't seem to be making the right choices lately.

"I'm sorry…I….I shouldn't have said that. It wasn't fair to you; you were only trying to help. I…"

I didn't know what else to say. Why did I always seem to hurt those I cared for? I said the completely wrong thing to him. It was true that he acted like the insensitive hot-head in front of everyone else but in front of Irene and me he acted like the caring person he really was.

"It's fine… I understand you didn't mean it. Moses… Please, talk to me."

I could feel his eyes on mecausing me to look at him. His eyes, the same color as mine, held so many emotions, understanding, caring, and something else that I couldn't name yet burned with such intensity that it surprised me.

"I just…. I can't help feeling as if it's my entire fault that things are turning out the way they are. This was never supposed to happen this way; we were all supposed to find a new life. We were supposed to rid ourselves of the thorn and change the direction of our lives away from death, pain, and suffering."

I paused, emotions getting the better of me; I turned toward the dark horizon, unable to face Karman.

"But instead, all we found was more death…our death…our pain….our suffering. Dismas…Gestas…Guy…they all entrusted their futures to me and I failed them, I let them die."

A single tear escaped my eyes and slowly slid down my cheek to my chin then dropped down into the darkness.

"They're gone and they'll never come back."

Karman's hand reached out to me, lightly touching myshoulder then running down my arm, comfortingly. I couldn't help it; I lost my control and broke down, tears flowing down my cheeks as if faucets had been turned on full blast. I had never cried before, I wasn't even sure if we could. Soon I felt Karman's arms slip around me and I turned and buried my face into his shoulder, letting the salty water stain his cloak. Finally I felt the liquid stop and I lay my head on his shoulder, looking at the now brightening horizon.

"Thank you."

I felt him chuckle underneath me and he placed a hand on my head.

"Of course, what else am I here for?"

I smiled and pulled away to look into his soft eyes. A thought crossed my mind accompanied by an image and it was unsettling, definitely not something that would usually cross my mind. I followed it anyway.

Slowly I leaned in and awkwardly brushed my lips against his cheek. I heard him gasp and pull away.He looked shocked and I could feel the burning in my cheeks. Unable to look at him any more I stood up and jumped from the roof lightly landing on the ground and walking into the building.

When I walked in Lulu was asleep on Irene's lap while Darth, Jan, and Gudrif sat around them. They all looked to me as I stepped into the room, I could see the confusion and concern in their eyes.

"I'm sorry, that I acted the way I did, I shouldn't have, it wasn't right."

Gudrif waved his hand in a dismissive gesture.

"Heh, whatever, we don't blame you its normal. Come on, Moses, get some rest."

I felt a small smile creep onto my face as I lay down near them and let my eyes slide shut. A while later, after everyone else had gone to sleep I heard Karman come in and tensed, afraid of what he'd do after the unprecedented thing I'd done.

Seconds went by and then I heard him lie down near me and Ifelt the usual warmth of his arm around my waist. Content that I hadn't messed something up that was so important to me, I felt myself drifting into the soothing darkness of sleep.


	10. Another obstacle

A/N: Hello, here is the next chapter, I know your all probably in shock that it's so soon, but I felt bad so I decided to just do it. Anyway please read the note at the end it is _**very**_ important.

Disclaimer: don't own….

_Another obstacle_

The sun was slowly setting over the human city France, as I quickly returned to where Irene was waiting. This city was where Irene's senses had led us and we had decided to split up and try to find Saya in this monstrous metropolis. However it wasn't too long before I felt Irene calling us back to her near the city's port.

She was on the roof of a port-side church;statues of angels blowing trumpets sat on either side of the balcony on which she stood.

"I can hear it." Her voice was a whisper as I swiftly came to stand beside her.

"She's here." She said a bit louder, as Karman came to stand on her other side.

"Saya… tonight, definitely." My voice held confidence as the others one by one surrounded us.

I kept my eyes locked on the boat a moment longer before I turned and headed into the church's attic. The exhaustion from exposure to the sun had caused sweeping over me.

"We should rest; we need to be in top shape for tonight."

I felt the others follow me into the dark room and take different spots along the walls. Karman sat near me, close enough to feel each others heat but not close enough to touch. Irene and lulu sat on my other side and quicklywent to sleep. Jan, Darth, and Gudrif sat on the other side of Karman, close together.

As I dozed I realized that without saying anything we had separated ourselves into mini groups. We were still one group and we all cared about each other but at the same time we each had our own…niche,I suppose is the right word. A small thought ran through my head and although I couldn't get rid of it, I was able to push it to the back of my mind: when everything was over, would we still be one group?

Soon night fell and as soon as it was dark we leapt from the church and headed out across the port and onto the ship. There, on deck, were several guards who quickly started shooting.

We scattered, each of us taking down a guard, as I approached mine he fired rounds of bullets at me, each one stinging as they sunk into my body but I continued to advance as he backed away. Tiring of his attempts to kill me I rushed forward and cut him in half with my scythe then fell back into formation with the others.

"Let's go."

The calm in my voice was evident as we split up to dispose of most of the guards and look for Saya. I moved through the ship's halls killing all who entered my path, never catching a whiff of Saya or her chevalier. I heard gunfire in the next hall and saw Lulu killing the guards with a small smile on her face. I also saw one of the ones she missed start to pull his gun on her so I impaled him on the end of my scythe, holding him up. I sensedIrene and the others coming up behind me.

"Where is Saya?"

A wall collapsed behind me as Gudrif appeared with Karman, Jan and Darth appeared next to Lulu. Unhooking the dead man, I turned to Irene as she closed her eyes, searching for Saya. There was a pregnant pause as no one said anything.

"How come you still haven't found them?" Karman's rough voice rang with impatience.

Turning to him, I tried to keep the peace so that Irene could concentrate.

"Karman! Calm down. We only need to go after Saya and her lone chevalier. There's no rush. Unlike going against Diva's chevaliers, if things go according to plan, we should be able to get to them."

"I know that, but if they get away…"

"I've found them."

Irene's soft voice cut through Karman's voice.

"Saya is at the top."

"At the top?" Karman's voice had softened and was laced with confusion.

"All the way at the top, on the highest point of this ship."

"Is that chevalier with her?"

"Yes, but there's something else…"

"We have no need for humans" Dismissing her last words, I gave the order.

"Let's go"

We flew through the levels of the ship to the top and one by one stopped in formation at the other end of the place Saya had chosen to face us. She drew her sword and the color of her eyes deepened as Lulu and Jan rushed forward to engage her.

She blocked them both and turned as Gudrif came down at her from above; she swung at him and barely missed as he reversed his movement away from her. Lulu tried again, swinging her axe but was blocked by the chevalier and pushed away from Saya. She jumped into the air to escape the chevalier but was caught in mid air by him again. Their weapons clashed and she landed on a different part of the roof, joined by Darth and Gudrif.

My attention was diverted from them as Saya came running at Irene and I, however I ran forward too and caught her off guard as she blocked my attack, sending her flying backwards before she regained her footing near Irene. Bullets clanged against Irene's sword as guards fired at her from the stairs they were climbing.

Jan evaded one of the guards fire while Karman attacked Saya who blocked him. One of the men on the platform fired at him but the bullets just bounced harmlessly of his javelin's head.

More gunfire ripped through the air as we dodged the attacks of the guards and Saya, but we continued to strike out at her periodically. Karman stabbed at her but she blocked and flipped over his head while Lulu went around one of the guards and killed him by slicing his back open. I saw Jan kill another of the guards and the man flew from the roof on to one of the lower levels.

Jan followed the man, apparently after someone I couldn't see and Saya followed him. The remaining guards ignored us and followed them to the edge firing down on Jan. I whipped my scythe around and killed one of the remaining guards, only leaving the blonde one with the hand gun. Karman jumped down too,about to attack Saya while she was turned away but a small human with a strange smell that seemed familiar grabbed onto his weapon.

"Out of my way!"

Karman threw him against the wall and speared him with the butt end of the Javelin. The kid screamed in pain and I saw a man around my age freeze and cry out as well. Everyone seemed to freeze as Saya continued to struggle against Jan, though obviously distracted. Karman rushed towards Saya but her chevalier knocked away his weapon and forced him and Jan to retreat to the rest of us as we reassembled on that level as well.

"Riku!"

Both Saya and the young man ran to the child and looked at his wound while the chevalier stood guard.

"Why? This… Riku…"

Saya gasped and backed away as the wound Karman had inflicted slowly healed, leaving only the blood. In an instant I knew why that smell was so familiar.

"A chevalier?"

Irene's words only confirmed my thoughts. I could see some other humans gathering closer and Saya turned away.

There was a slight movement from my left as Jan decided to take advantage of the situation.

"They're mine!" he cried, jumping away.

"Wait!" I yelled.

He hadn't seen the look in Saya's eyes, nor had he thought about the danger of two chevaliers; all I could see was death.

Sure enough as he flew towards them the chevalier struck at him, causing him to have to dodge, however while he was in the air, Saya came towards him and sliced his stomach open and he fell over the side of the ship into the ocean.

Instantly, I could feel the tension and anger radiating off of Karman. Worry and images of the same fate happening to him ran through me.

"Damn you!"

His voice was a low growl but as much as I wanted vengeance too I couldn't let him or anyone else die too.

"Stop it."

I could see Saya and her chevalier ready themselves for any other attacks we might bring and that only confirmed my decision.

"We're pulling out."

I made my voice so that there was no question about my decision, but of course, Karman, still in a rage, had to argue.

"What?"

"Saya is different then she was. And… there are two chevaliers."

With that we turned and disappeared from the boat, returning to the shore and ran back into the city. Finally we stopped in a deserted clearing, but no one said anything.

"Find food, walk around…find something to do until the sun rises…just, don't go back to the ship. When the sun does rise, go to the abandoned church towards the edge of the city."

Without looking at them, I turned and ran off to find food for myself and then to go rest in the church. I didn't have anything to say to them; we had failed again, and consequently Jan had been lost.

A/N: Alright, I hope you liked it! As you know the one year gap is coming up soon (one more chapter) and so I'd like to have suggestions about what should happen during that one year. Any and all suggestions would be great. No matter what my decision is though, you can bet that Karman and Moses' relationship is going to grow.

Till next time! ^-~


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